Apollo Academy published its latest CEO and CFO confidence graphs today. CEO confidence in the economy dropped sharply in the latest measurement. CFO confidence, which is measured two ways as own-company optimism and optimism about the nation economy, dropped as well, though far less than CEO confidence.
Our read on Apollo's graphs: CEOs look at the economy through a Keynesian lens, so the removal of giant U.S. Federal deficit spending from the economy is a big headwind for them. CFOs, who are generally more confident in their own companies than the national economy, are more accurate in their optimism. Investors should take a contrarian view to the Apollo CEO optimism reading.
